Thank goodness the Mets are finally out of town.  Yes, they are a fine team, but Milwaukee pretty much played an all-around poor series.  The pitching wasn't very good, the defense certainly wasn't good, the base running sucked, and the Crew couldn't hit with runners in scoring position late in games.  That won't get you anywhere in the playoff race.

Be sure to check out the other article from this morning that I wrote, "What's wrong with Manny Parra?".  The conclusions are much more interesting than you would think.

• Right Field Bleachers reaches out to a Padres blogger, and the result is a rather depressing interview.  San Diego has really fallen from grace after last season's heartbreaking loss to the Colorado Rockies.  Their pitching, sans Jake Peavy, is horrendous, and I look forward to seeing them on the mound in Milwaukee.  Jody Gerut has come out of nowhere in 2008 though.  He appears to be a very solid player in center field.  Next season will determine whether or not he is just a flash in the pan, however.
• CC Sabathia will not be receiving a no-hitter.  Major League Baseball upholds the call in Pittsburgh on Andy LaRoche's dribbler in the fifth inning.  While I truly believe it was an error, I did not think the lefty deserved the no-no because the situation would have been different if that LaRoche hit was deemed an error.  Now we can all move on while many Brewers fans will cling to their dreams and call it a no-hitter.  They will say something like, "Yeah, but it was a no-hitter besides that stupid call in the fifth inning."  I will respond, "Yeah, and the Brewers won that game against New York on Tuesday besides their base running mistakes and that error in the tenth."  You can play the "what if" game all day.
• I never wish for anyone to get injured, but this story strangely made my day.  While Milwaukee lost Ben Sheets to a strained groin on Monday, the Cubs may be without Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden.  Chicago's twin aces are experiencing arm troubles, with Harden's actually experiencing discomfort in his rotator cuff.  That is always a sign of some major DL time.  We all knew Harden's injury would come sooner or later.
• As you all know, I have been touting Brad Nelson for the past few months.  His plate discipline is something Milwaukee's line-up could desperately use, and his left-handed bat is infinitely valuable to the organization.  The young man got his first hit on Tuesday on a line drive to right field.  I knew Brad wasn't the slowest guy in the world, but I was surprised to see that he is fairly light on his feet on the basepaths.  He was looking to go three on that play before slowing at second.
• The Brew Town Beat says that Milwaukee is one of the worse base running teams in the entire league.  That is an overstatement, in my opinion, as most of the outs on the basepaths come from a runner sacrificing himself between second and third so the runner can get safely home, but the point still remains.  The team has made some awful mistakes as of late.  I would truly be surprised to see Dale Sveum as the third base coach next season.
• Battlekow from Brew Crew Ball has the first at-bats of Alcides Escobar, Angel Salome, Mat Gamel, and Brad Nelson in the comments thread of this post.  Salome's swing is hideous, but you cannot argue with those results down in Huntsville.  Gamel looks pretty good at the plate, in my opinion, while Escobar appeared to be pretty comfortable.  Brad Nelson hit the ball hard in his first two at-bats, so you know he's settled in at the dish.  I love that he's getting some pinch hit at-bats.
• Battlekow again posts a list of who has options left on the team.  I will be surprised if Tony Gwynn Jr. is on the 2009 Milwaukee Brewers, as he has no options left.  He will either be toiling away in Nashville or on a different team.  I vote for a different team for his sake.
• Caleb Gindl knows what he's doing at the plate.  He finsihed the regular season for the West Virginia Power on a torid streak, hitting safely in 32 of his last 40 games.  That is ridiculous.  He bumped up his average over 40 points in the last couple months of the season to finish above .300 for the year.  His manager says that he has tremendous hand-eye coordination and is only going to get better at the plate as he gets older.  That's wonderful to hear, but Caleb will need to figure out his penchant for striking out before he becomes anything special.
• Dugout Central says that Tampa Bay does not deserve the Rays.  No kidding.  Their attendence is pathetic, and there are plenty of cities that would welcome a big league team with open arms.  The article suggests bringing another team to Philadelphia, Boston, or New York.  No thanks.  Those cities already have enough time on SportsCenter.  I would love to see the Rays move to somewhere like Portland or Oklahoma City, as the author suggests.  A couple other darkhorse cities would have to be Charlotte and Indianapolis.  I could see baseball being huge in both those cities.
• This is incredibly off-topic, but Sporting News is saying that former Cincinnati Bengals running back, Rudi Johnson, just got signed by the Detroit Lions.  To make room for Rudi on the roster, the Lions released fellow-running back, Tatum Bell.  Bell didn't take the news too well.  When Johnson got to the stadium and was talking to the coaching staff, Bell stole his luggage and ran off with it.  He stole his clothes, money, and credit cards.  I simply couldn't make that up if I tried.